NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, Calif. — Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW) Capital Investment Program (CIP) project manager Martha Hoffman was honored Nov. 6 as the Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR) Logistics and Industrial Operations Competency (AIR 6.0) Employee of the Quarter, for the third quarter of fiscal year 2015.
Hoffman, who is assigned to the FRCSW Industrial Operations Management Department, plays a crucial role in providing big-ticket support equipment essential to the command’s mission of generating readiness through timely and responsive production.
Hoffman arrived at FRCSW in 2008 as a contractor in facilities. She later worked in compliance at Naval Air Technical Data and Engineering Service Command (NATEC), and in her current position, supports most of the command’s major competencies.
In a joint venture with Boeing, NAVAIR, Teradyne and the Common Aviation Support Equipment Office (PMA-260), Hoffman purchased FRCSW’s Reconfigurable Transportable Consolidated Automated Support System (RTCASS-D) which became operational in February. RTCASS-D is an advanced avionics tester used to pinpoint and resolve avionics component problems, which is used for aircraft including the V-22 Osprey, F/A-18 Hornet and UH-1 and AH-1 helicopters.
When the cables and connectors for the automated wiring analyzer (AWA) that tests the avionics and electrical systems to the E2-C Hawkeye began to fail, Hoffman worked to help replace it with a new custom-made unit.
“The new AWA is specifically designed to test the E2-C and all of its avionics program tests in the aircraft and is compatible with the previous test programs we had before,” she noted.
Activated in June, the AWA will eventually be modified with new modules to accommodate the electronic requirements of the E-2D model.
To expand the command’s physical security, Hoffman purchased smart card readers that will replace certain facility numbered entry locks. The card readers are currently scheduled for installation in eight FRCSW buildings.
Perhaps her largest purchase is the 55-foot long and approximately 28-foot wide Super Hornet alignment fixture that is also applicable for EA-18G Growler airframe repairs. The fixture will be used in the upcoming historic repair to an F/A-18E Super Hornet by splicing an existing section of the aircraft’s fuselage from that of a donor F/A-18F Super Hornet.
“We finished that F/A-18 fixture and seeing the faces of the artisans when they were ready to use that product — that was the greatest satisfaction,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman’s current projects include a vacuum chamber for chromium plating and a retrofit to the Campbell grinder in the components machine shop in Building 472 here.
Both projects should be awarded early next year.
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